Method for use in the manufacture of artificial silks



16301-97 May 24 1927' D., A. MgKENzlE "i METHOD `FOR USE IN MQNUFACTUREQF v,AR'I'IFIGIAJI SILKS Fil'ed Dec. 2.8. 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORATTORNEYS May 24, 1921.

1,630,197 D. A. MGKENZIE METHOD FOR USE IN THE NANUFACTURE 0F ARTIFICIALSILKS s sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR DON/QLD f7. Mc KE/vz 'IE www ATTORNEYS1,630,197 D. A. MCKENZIE METHOD FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE 0FARTIFICIAL' SILKS May 24, 1927.

-l Filed Dec. 28. 1925 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Tuo/vnu; f7. Mc KEN2/E ATTORNEYS i Patented May 24, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

noNALD A. MOKENZTE', or swanrHMoaE, rmmsmivaNIA; AssieNon 'ro 'rms vrs-'COSE COMPANY, OF MARCUS HOOK, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF PIILN'N'SYI'J-`VANIA.

METHOD FOR USE IN :THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SILKE.

Application nled December 28, 1923. Serial No. 683,213.

My invention relates to a method for use in the manufacture ofartificial silks.v The object of my invention is to simplify andfacilitate the'washing and subsequent operations upon the fiber after itleaves the spin- In the manufacture of artificial' silk and the like, itis the customary practice to lead the thread from the setting bath, overguide rollers or godets to a rapidly rotating spinning box, within whichthe thread is twisted, and coiled or built up into what is commonlyknown in the art as a fiber cake. Apparatus .for this purpose isillustrated in the Clay- My invention eliminates the danger of injuryincident to skeining and other delicate handling operations, bymaintainingr the fiber cake intact, and facilitating the handlingthereof during the Washing and at least some of the subsequentmanufacturing steps. To this end my invention contemplates the doling of'the fiber cake from the spinning box upou a suitable carrier, on Whichit rcmains during the setting up period. and by which it 1s carriedduring the'washing and' such subsequent steps as may be desirable.

Y The washing step is preferably `carried out itma by sprayingvthe WashWater or the like against the inner periphery of the cake, the ylatterbeing rotated at sufficient speed to causeA the Wash liquid to permeateand be i discharged from the'fiber cake by centrifual force.

Then the fiber cake has been thus washed, be rotated or ,whizzed for abrief `perio to lremove the free moisture by centrifugal force from theinterior of the cake. It. is then lifted on its carrier from the vWashing rotor and transferred, still on its ent position;

carrier, to the drying chamber or stove,

Where it is subjected to the drying step-While the liber is still in thecake form.

In its Washed and dried condition the liber now possesses considerablygreater mechanical strength, and may be handled withoutv great danger ofinjury. If desired, it may now be skeined, and subjected, in skein form,to the usual further treatments which are common in this art.v Myinvention, however, contemplates the carrying out of at' least some ofthese further steps whilethe i iber cake is still maintained in itsoriginal condition.

A simple and appropriate carrier upon which the ber cake may be doledfrom theI spinning box, and by which it may be. supported during itstreatment in cake form, is

illust-rated in the accompanying drawings, i

in Whichl Fig. 1 is abroken plan of a fiber cake and i a cooperatingwashing appliance;

Fig. 2 is a section onthe line 2 2, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a. shown in Fig.1, but with the parts in differ- Fig. 4 is a rotor alone;

Fig. 5 is an inverted broken plan thereof;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the operation of theWasher;

Fig. 7 is a broken plan of a modified construction; and

In'the form illustrated' in Figs. 1-5, the carrier comprises a baseplate 5 apertured at 6 for ventilation and lightness, and at 7 to afforda bearing for the ollset lower ends 8 of the centering and gripping bars9. At its center the plate 5 is apertured to pass over a rotary tubularstandard 10 perforated `at appropriate points 11, the perforations vpreferably being rathersmall. Fitting over the upper end of the standard10 is a second bearing plate 12, the offset collar 13 of which snuglyfits the standard. The plate 12 is appropriatelypierced at 14 (Fig. 1)in register Withthe apertures 7 in plate 5 to receive the upper offsetends 15 of the bars 9. v

Overlying the base plate 5 is al bar shifting disk 16 centrally aertured to snugly fit the base plate collar 1 and resting at its planview of the apparatus broken side elevation of the Fig. 8 is a verticalsection therethrough.

- base plate 5 and the shiftin outer periphery upon the mar mal flange18' of the base late which is em raced bythe down-turne marginal flange19 of the disk 16. The latter is held in swivelling relation to the baseplate 5 by lugs 20 offset from the flange 19 and extending. beneath thebase plate'. The bar shifting disk 16 is slotted at 21 for ventilationand lightness, and also at 22 to accommodate the bars 9 which passtherethrough, the lower offset reaches 23 of the bars lying between thej disk 16. It is obvious that if the base p ate 5 be held stationary,the rotation of the disk 16 with relation thereto will cause the bars 9to swing inwardly or outwardly on their axes 8-15, and to play inwardlyor outwardly 1n the slots 22 in the shifting disk, '16, depending uponthe direction of rotation of the latter.

To cooperate with the carrier and to cause the same'to bodily rotateduring the washing or other step of treatment, I provlde la vert-icalrotary spindle 24, having at its upper end a rigid hub 25, in the uppersupporting face of which pockets 26 are formed for the reception of theoffset lower ends 8 of the gripping bars 9. When the carrieris'positioned upon the hub, the'ends 8 of the bars 9 form in effectclutch studs, through which the driving connection between the hub 25and the cake carrier is eiiected. The tubular standard 10 over which thecarrier plates pass, is fast with the hub and rotates therewith and withthe carrier. p

In order to locate the gripping bars 9 in proper position for thereceptlon of the liber cake when the latter is dotted from the spinboxto the carrier, the disk 16 is rotated Witliy -respect to the base plate5 to cause the bars 9 to swing inwardly toward the axis of the carrier.The fiber cake, diagrammatically indicated at 27, is then dofed upon thedisk 16 and the latter rotated with respect to the base plate 5, thuscausing the bars 9 to move outward into engagement with the innerperiphery of the liber cake. The d1- rection of the rotat-ion of thedisk 16 with reference to the base plate 5 to cause the outward swingofthe bars on their crank'a-rms, is the same as that which it takes as aresult of its inertia and that of its supported mass during the drive ofthe spindle 24. This direction of rotation may be readily assured by solimiting the radial length of the slot 22 that the bars 9 are preventedfrom swinging over-center. Consequently, when the spindle is rotated,both inertia and centrifugal action combine to swing the gripping bars 9outwardly against the inner periphery of the fiber cake. rl`he latter isthus firmly gripped around its axis, or since the axis of the'caketrifugal brce.

when positioned on the-carrier may not be 4precisely coincident with theaxis of the spindle, stresses may be Iset up when the car- A rier isrotated, which tend to colla se the vfort of whichis so exerted as toovercome these unbalanced stresses. This may be accomplished in manyways. 'It may be attained, for example, by means -of the bell crank arms28 pivotcd on the hub 25 and rovided attheir free ends with weights 29.ugs 30 project downward from the flange 19 of the disk 16 into kthe pathof the arms 28, and are so located that the thrust of the arms aga-instthem, under the action of cen-4 trifugal force, is in a direction torotate the disk 16 in thedirection to expand the cage and cause thegripping arms 9 to move outward against the inner wall of the cake.v

. Since the arms 28 are carried by the hubV 25, some means must beprovided to so locate the carrier with respect to the hub 25 that thelugs 30 are properly positioned for engagement by the centrifugal arms28. For this purpose one or more lugs 3l may be struck inward from thecollar 13 to enter notches 32 in the upper margin of the rotor standard10.- v

Furthermore, since the centrifugal arms 28 must be swung inward in orderto insure their proper position with' respect to the lugs 30 onthe diskwhen the cage is placed on the rotor in collapsed condition (Fig. 3),some means are preferably provided to draw the arms 28 automaticallyinward toward the hub 25. In the construction shown the bearing ends33-and 34 of the centrifugal arms are passed downward through the hub25, each provided at its lower end with a pin 35 which is engaged by oneend of a light sprin 36 anchored to the hub at its other end 3%'. Theeiort of the spring 36 is sufficient to swing the arm inward towardvthehub, but has no apprzjihble effect upon the efort of the arms un er theaction of cen- The wash liquid may be applied in any suitable way to theinner periphery of the fiber cake. I have illustrated an independentsupply pipe 38 which is passed down into the standard 10, andis'provided with a series of lateral apertures 39 through which the washwater is dschargedagainst the inner face of the rotating standard, 10.It passes through the apertures 11 in the latter and is dispersed in theform of a fine spray against the inner face of the fiber cake. Thedirection of the jets is indicated in the diagrani,'Fig. 6. As will henoted, theeliquid emerges ina radial spray from the central feed pipe 38and impinges against the inner wall 'of the rotary standard 10. Passinguid is discharged inl a whirling mist-like spray which .bodilyl rotatesin the same direction as the fiber' cake 27 against the inner face ofwhich the spray impinges. By reason ofthe fact that the spray iswhirling in the same direction'as the fiber cake, a violent impingementof the jets against the fiber of the cake-is prevented. On the contrary,

the spray beats lightly against the inner periphery of the cake, withoutinjury to the fibers. is thrown off radially in all directions. It iscustomary to pass `the spindles 24 up through the bottom of `a box, orside by side in a trough, (where a group of washers operates at the sametime) and thus, confine" the liquid, which is discharged'by an overflowor drainage outlet. -The acid carried into the fiber cake from thesetting bath is`r taken up by the wash water which permeates the cake bycentrifugal force, and is discharged with the waterfrom the trough orbox (not shown).

When the washingl operation is completed the supply of wash water is cutoff from-the jet tube 38, and the rotation of the spindle 24 continuedfora brief lperiod 1n order to l` throw off' the wash water contained inthe cake.' The spindle is then halted, the jet tube 38 removed, and theca rrier bodily lifted from the driving hub 25 of the spindleand-transferred with the washed fiber ca ke to the drying chamber orother apparatus vfor this purpose. l

`Aften drying or stoving, 1the carrier, with the fiber cake stillundisturbed thereon, may be transferred to the skeining machine. 'Iprefer, however, to still maintain the fiber cake undisturbed on thecarrier and to subject it to such further chemical action as maybeappropriate, for example desulphiding and dyeing, by again placingIthe carrier upon'a `driving spindle, land applyd ingthe treating liquidsto the inner periphery of the cake, through which they passbycentrifugal action incident to its rotation.`

As an example of a modified form ofconstruction for the carrier, I haveshown in Figs. 7 and 8 atype in which theAgripping bars 40 are fewer inLnumber than in the construction` first described, each of the bars,however, carrying a .segmental screen 41 adapted to lie against theinner periphery. of `the fiber cake. In this construction the upper landlower' plates'are dispensed with and are substituted by upper and lowerflanges 42 and 43 at opposite ends of the rotarytube 44 which forms aportion of the carrieizj The flanges 42 and 43 arelsuit-ably aperturedjin register to receive the upper and lower offset ends of the bars, 40which swing therein. The lower flange 43 is also apertured toaccommodate the offset ends of the rods45 which project throughapertures Permeating the cake, the liquid` 4 6 inthe down-turned flange47 `yon the shifting disk 48.

The hub 49 at the head of the spindle 50 is providedwith an annularchannel 51, in which the lower fla-nge 43 of the tube 44 isaccommodated, while the pockets 52 `into which the stud ends 53 of thebars 40 pro- Ject,lextend downward from the bottom of the channel 51.The entry of the stud ends 53 of' the bars`40 and rods 45 into theirappropriate pockets 52 in the bottom of the channel 51, may be l'eadilyassured by means of a locating boss 54 on the hub 49 which takes into acorresponding notch 55 at the lower end of the tube 44.

In both ofthe constructions. the rods 45 afford ready means for shiftingthe gripping bars 4() of the ca geoutward into engagement with the innerface of the fiber cake, after the carrier has been positioned rods 45pass through holes 46 in the flange 95 i 47 of the shifting disk, therods may be also used .to collapse the `cage by shifting the grippingbars 40 inward. It is necessary merely to push the Vrods inward to causethem to rotate the disk in the opposite directiondand thus swing thegripping bars inwar The rods 45 thus also form. portionof the carrier inthis construction.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1-5, I

the carrier may be handled readily by means of the collar 13, theapertures in which, formed by striking-in of thel lugs 31, afford fingerholds. A similar flange may. befprovided at` the upper end of the. tube44 i (Figs. 7 and 8) if desired--but there is in p this constructionample finger room between adjacent bars -of the cage.

.It will of course be understood that vari`- ous other modifications.readily; occurring to those skilled in the art, both inthe details ofthe stepsof the method and inthe structural features of the carrier aparatus, may be made without departing rom what I claim as my invention.f

I- claim- 1. In the manufacture of artificial silk,

the step 'of applying liquid to a rotating. fiber cake simultaneouslythroughout the length of the cakeaxis to cause the liquid to passthrough the cake by 'ceutrif-ugahforce.

2. In' the manufacture of artificial silk,v

the step of applying liquid in spray form to the inner face of arotating fiber cake to cause the liquid to pass throughtlie cake bycentrifugal force.

. 3. In the inanuf'acture of artificial silk, the step Aofapplyingliquidin the f'orm of a lol i the fiber cake upon a carrier,causing liquid centrlfugal whirling s ray to a rotating fiber cake tocause the liquid to pass through the cake by centrifugal force.

4. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the step of rotating a fibercake and simultaneously applying thereto a liquid spray whirling in thesame direction to cause the liquid to pass through the cake bycentrifugal force. v

5. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the steps of dofiing a spunfiber cake upon a carrier engaging .the cake at its inner peripherycausing the carrier to rotatel and supplying liquid by centrifugalaction to the lnner peripheral face of the cake during its rotation. v

6. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the step of supplying liquidin divided form to the inner peripheral face of a fiber cake throughoutthe axial dimensions thereof and simultaneously rotating the cake tocause the liquid to permeate the same by centrifugal force. A v e 7.,Inthe manufacture of-artificia l silk, the steps of supplying liquidsimultaneously in all directions to the inner peripheral face of a fibercake during the rotation of the latter, to cause the liquid to permeatethe rake, by centrifugal force, cutting ofi' the supply of liquid andcontinuing the rotation of the cake to discharge the free liquid fromthe interior of the cake through its outer periphery by centrifugalforce.

8. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the steps of forming a fibercake, mounting the cake upon a carrier and subjecting the cake While somounted to successive treatments by liquid applied to the inner. facerof the cake and caused to lpenetrate the same by centrifugal force.

9. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the steps of forming a fibercake, mounting the fiber cake upon a carrier, and subjecting the cake onsaid carrier to washing and drying steps in sequence, the washing liquorbeing applied to the inner face of the cake during its rotation, andcaused to pass therethrough by centrifugal force, and the drying stepbeing effected by the haltof the liquid step during the continuedrotation of the cake.l

10. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the steps of forming aI fibercake, mounting to pass througlvsaid cake by force', removing free liquidfrom the interior of the cake by centrifugal force, and thereafterdrying the cake While quiescent.

11. In the manufacture of artificialsilk,

the steps of forminga fiber cake, mounting the fiber cake upon acarrier, and subjecting the cake on said carrier toffti'ashing and dryinsteps, and subsequently Winding the fiber/ rom said cake.

l2. In the manufacture of" artificial silk,

the steps of forming -a fiber cake, mounting the fiber cake upon acarrier, permitting the setting-up action to take place while the cakeis on rier to a washer and washing the fiber cake While on said carrier.

13. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the steps of forming affibercake, mounting `the fiber cake upona carrier, permitting the setting-upaction to take place While the cake is on the carrier, transferring thevcarrie'r to a Washer and washing the fiber cake while on said carrierand during the rotation Jf the carrier.

14.l In the manufacture of artificial silk, the step of rotating acentrally open mass of fiber, supplying liquid to the inner peripheralsurface of the mass during rotation of the latter to cause the liquid topass through the mass by centrifugal force, and prevent- 1ingirlijurious abrasion of said surface by the iquic y 15. In themanufacture of artificial silk, the' step of rotating a centrally openfiber mass unconfined at its outer periphery, supplying liquid to thecentral opening of the mass during rotation of the latter to cause theliquid to pass through the mass and be freely discharged from itsunconfined outer periphery by centrifugal force, and preventinginjurious abrasion of the fiber by the liqui 16. In the manufacture ofartificial silk, the step of spraying liquid against a surrounding massof fiber during rotation of the latter to cause the sprayed liquid topass through the mass and be discharged from its outer periphery bycentrifugal force.

.17. In the manufacture of. artificial silk, the step of dispersingliquid by centrifugal force in a spray against the inner peripheralsurface of a surrounding mass of fiber While the latter is rotating at aspeed sufficient to cause the impingingspray to pass therethrough and bedischarged from the outer periphery thereof by centrifugal force.

18. In the manufacture'of/artificial silk, the step of rotating anannular mass of fiber, and dispersing a stream of liquid in spray formagainst the inner periphery of the rotating fiber mass,

19. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the stepsof surrounding astationary spray device by an annular mass of fiber, simultaneouslyrotating the' spray device and fiber mass, and feeding liquid to thespray device to causeA the dispersal of the liquid in the form of aspray against the inner periphery of the4 surrounding mass of fiber andcausing the sprayed liquid to pass through the fiber mass by centrifugalforce.

20. In the manufacture of `artificial silk, i

the steps of placing an annular mass of fiber upon a collapsiblecarrier, mounting thecarrier upon a rotatable spray device, rotating thecarrier, transferring the car- Q1. In the manufacture of artificialsilky" the steps of placing an annular mass of fiber upon a collapsiblecarrier, mounting the carrier upon a rotatable spray device, rotatingsaid spray device and carrier and feeding liquid to the spray devicewhile, the latter is rotating to cause the inipingeinent of the liquidin spray form against the inner periphery of the tiber mass and itsvpassage therethrough by centrifugal force, halting the spray device,removing the carrier therefrom and permitting shrinkage of the liberincident to drying While on said collapsible carrier.

22. In the manufacture of artificial silk, the step of rotating acollapsible carrier having thereon an annular mass of fiber, supplyingliquid to the inner periphery of the mass during its rotation to causethe liquid to pass through the mass by centrifugal force, halting the'carrier and permitting the. fiber mass 'to shrink incident to dryingwhile ou said collapsible carrier.

In testimony whereof l have signed my naine to this specification.

` DONALD A. MCKENZIE.

